DeSantis announces all long-term care staff required covid-19 testing every two weeks

by | Jul 9, 2020


With the number one risk of Covid-19 mortality being in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the requirement of all long-term care facility staff in the state get Covid-19 tested every two weeks. During a press conference Monday held at Pan American Hospital in Miami, DeSantis announced updates on positive cases of the virus amongst residents in long-term care facilities.

“One trend that we’ve been seeing is as we’ve seen more traffic into the hospitals, in the past few weeks we’re seeing a smaller number of residents of long term care facilities admitted. We would obviously like this to not to have anyone admitted but those residents of the long-term care facilities are admitted they have a much higher rate of mortality. To see that decline, is something that is very positive,” said DeSantis.

The governor emphasized the work Florida has done compared to other states and announced the increase of beds in Jackson Memorial long-term care center in Miami.

“I don’t think any other state in the country has done what we’ve done to protect the vulnerable here in the state of Florida. This is another big step in that direction. We have approved a temporary increase of 47 beds for Jackson Nursing Home, which will take them from 180 to 227, that will be a force multiplier in terms of ability to care for Covid positive nursing home residents, this increase of 47 beds has allowed Jackson to use a former rehab facility adjacent to Jackson Memorial to discharge patients from its hospital to a more appropriate level of care,” said DeSantis.

DeSantis also announced the introduction of more medical staff to help with Covid positive patients at Jackson Memorial.

“The state we want to do our part and not just rely on the Federal government, so today after talking to folks down here in Dade county, the state we are going to diverting some of our contract personnel to Jackson. So we’re sending starting tomorrow 100 contract medical personnel, mostly nurses to be able to augment their operations,” said DeSantis, “I think that’ll be something that will be very useful for them as they continue to deal with not only just Covid patients but also non-Covid patients.”

The governor addressed that if someone tests positive in a nursing home, the nursing home has a responsibility to transfer them to a place they can safely be isolated.

“So we’ve established across the state of Florida twelve Covid only nursing homes where a resident can safely be transferred  so they don’t infect the people in their normal long-term care facility. They can be cared for and that is really going to reduce outbreaks in long-term care facilities,” said DeSantis.

2 Comments

  1. Cari Eno

    Great job, very proud of our state of Florida. God bless us.

  2. Kay Dunn

    Great job, Governor Desantis. Stay strong, and don’t shut down the state or mandate masks for all.